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Operation Boomerang — Themes and Context

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In Category - Space Future

Authors: Emshwiller, Ed, 1925-1990 [Illustrator], Revelle, George Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2019 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Science fiction; Short stories; Space flight to the moon -- Fiction; Astronauts -- Fiction Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 9,006

Reading time 40 min

Text sections 1

For Operation Boomerang — Themes and Context, the stored edition analysis reports 9,006 words, 40 min estimated reading time, and 1 detected text section.

The text analysis averages about 10.9 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Science fiction,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #59842

In George Revelle's 1957 story, Colonel Wade Boeman oversees a moon mission while grappling with personal hatred for the pilot, Ackerson, and guilt over a missing predecessor, Tomer. The narrative contrasts official control with private emotion, using terse dialogue and recurring motifs of silence and restraint.

Editorial Edition Score 4.4/5

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg59842

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Wade looked at the narrow back of Harry Lowe. And he knew how the man became Secretary of Defense. It was shrewd getting him to open up like that. They both knew how lucky they were to have Allen Ackerson. Finding men capable of making such a flight hadn't been easy. Of the dozen volunteers only Ackerson remained. Mental and physical tests had eliminated all but a few. Those remaining were unfit for space travel, weeded out by the psychological teams, unable to cope with the morbid phobia of being alone so long wrapped in a metal cocoon. Only Ackerson and Tomer had succeeded. Now there was only Ackerson.

"Colonel!" Wade turned and faced the rawboned sergeant standing beside him. Meyers was a big man with a deep tan browning his face.

"What is it, sergeant?"

Meyers handed him a large white envelope. "Captain Ackerson said to give this to you just before take-off."

"Two minutes," someone said. Wade stuffed the envelope inside his jacket. Then he hurried over to the radar man. The envelope had to wait, there was no time now.

"Are we set?" he asked. The man nodded as he adjusted the dials. Wade smiled. These men were experts in their fields. To double check them would be to insult them. Besides, this wasn't the first time for them. The same crew had been operating when they fired the test rocket. He knew they wouldn't fail.

"One minute ... 59 ... 58 ... 57...." Wade found himself counting under his breath while he stared at the small screen on the table. Would the reactors work? They would go on at 30. And the _Starfrost_! Would it lift--or would it, like some others before it, slowly hesitate, then begin a weird, frightening slide to the side to become a flaming blowtorch of death.

"30!" Major Gormely closed the switch. Wade became conscious of the Secretary watching the screen with him.

"... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2...." The counter continued. "FIRE!"

The _Starfrost_ shivered.

Wade felt his heart skip a beat. Slowly, ever so slowly, the huge ship began to move. Dust, sand and smoke mingled with the sheets of flame pouring from her stern. The platform disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The _Starfrost_ lifted.

"Thank God!" the Secretary sighed.

"Amen." Wade muttered. He took out another cigarette. He was glad it had begun; the project. Now there was only the long wait.

"Ackerson's a brave man." The Secretary said.

"Of course he is." Wade never had any doubts about Allen's intestinal fortitude. The man had a good war record. Confidence seemed to ooze out of the man. It was his attitude, damn it.

Wade drew deeply on the cigarette. Tomer had been the same type in many ways. Eager, filled with the enthusiasm, unafraid. A small man compared to the blond Ackerson, he seemed to carry himself tall. And his attitude. He felt the same intensity about National defense as Boeman did himself. Perhaps that was another reason he had felt close to the boy. Tomer would have made this trip with no thought whatsoever about the financial rewards or what the history books would have to say about him.

"... Sixty thousand ..." someone said.

"Start communication," Wade commanded automatically.

"Romeo." The commo picked up the small hand mike. All eyes in the room centered on the silent speaker on the wall.

"_Starfrost._ This is Mother. How do you read me, over?"

The speaker remained silent.

"_Starfrost._ Can you read me. Over!"

The Secretary looked at Wade. His face was tight and drawn. "What do you think, Wade. Are we getting through?"

"It's hard to say. He's moving pretty fast. He could outrun the signal. We've never had a practical voice test."

Lowe's face had a worried expression covering it. "Didn't you have communications with the test rocket?"

"That was unmanned ... remember?"

"This silence doesn't worry you?" the Secretary asked with amazement.

"Ackerson was trained for this. He knows there is nothing we can do for him. _He's on his own._ Communications would be to our advantage, to be sure. But Ackerson knows that ship like you know the back of your hand. Besides ... perhaps he is too busy to answer right now. He has to be sure there is no wobble."

"Sure. The ship could begin to oscillate. If it does that he is done. He has to keep his eye on the gyro."

The Secretary's eyes penetrated. "I can't help but feel that you would be more concerned if Tomer were in the _Starfrost_ instead of Ackerson. Wade ... don't let the fact that you hate Ackerson cloud the issue. He is doing us a great service."

"After all. The first man to circle the Moon is entitled to a place in the history books. I can share his feelings, in a way. It's a great thing he's doing."

Continue Reading →

From its opening paragraph, George Revelle's 1957 story establishes a tension between public duty and private feeling. Colonel Wade Boeman watches the silver ship Starfrost on the launch pad, but his thoughts keep veering to a man named Tomer—someone he forces himself not to remember. The narrative voice slips between Boeman's internal struggle and the clipped, procedural language of a countdown. A signal light blinks; ground crews clear the area. Yet the real action is in what is not said: Boeman's outstretched hand is ignored, and the pilot Ackerson offers a tight smile instead of a handshake. The story immediately signals that this mission is as much about personal conflict as about space flight.

Silence as a Weapon

Revelle builds much of the drama through what characters refuse to say. Wade Boeman repeatedly bites back words, erases thoughts, and tries to become “Colonel Wadon G. Boeman, senior officer in charge … with no personal feelings.” The effort fails. When Ackerson taunts him by mentioning Tomer, Boeman rises from his chair, white-faced, but is stopped by the Secretary. The dialogue is terse: “Drop dead, Colonel.” “Good luck, Captain. I really mean it.” The gap between what is felt and what is spoken creates a persistent undercurrent of hostility. Even the control room is described with lights that flicker and die, as if the machinery itself hesitates.

The Unseen Third Man

Tomer is never present in the excerpts, yet his absence drives the plot. Boeman wishes Tomer were piloting instead of Ackerson. Ackerson later taunts Boeman about “that little guy who quit on you just before the training ended.” The story withholds whether Tomer quit, was removed, or something else. The red crater Ackerson reports—colored by a “marking dye” that Wade explains too quickly—hints at a secret. The test rocket’s condition, “fairly well beat up,” and Ackerson’s observation that the nose should have been buried suggest a prior failure. The excerpts leave Tomer’s fate ambiguous, but his ghost haunts every exchange between the two men.

Rank and Resentment

The story uses military hierarchy as both a shield and a source of friction. Wade is a colonel; Ackerson is a captain about to become a civilian. Wade reminds him, “You’re still in the service,” and schedules a week of interrogation. Ackerson, in turn, enjoys making Wade sweat by not answering radio calls. The power shifts constantly. Wade can order a staff car to intercept Ackerson, but he cannot control Ackerson’s smirk. The Defense Secretary’s presence keeps the peace, but only barely. Revelle portrays rank not as a solution but as a fragile container for personal animosity. The final excerpt shows Sergeant Meyers’ exuberance punctured by a sudden return to formal address—“pardon me, Colonel … sir!”—underscoring how quickly the story’s emotional temperature can change.

Readers should pay attention to what the story omits. The excerpts never show the moon landing itself, nor do they resolve the mystery of Tomer. The title Operation Boomerang suggests a return—perhaps of the rocket, perhaps of a repressed truth. The narrative’s power lies in its restraint: the silences, the half-finished gestures, the emotions that surface despite discipline. Approach this story as a study in controlled fury rather than a straightforward adventure.

I found myself thinking about that old Revelle story, the way silence hung between Wade and Ackerson, how much went unsaid in that cramped capsule. It reminded me of a quieter discussion I once stumbled into — a plain-spoken look at what a satellite actually does, and why it matters. There's a certain gentleness to that kind of explanation. I've kept it close, like a bookmark. What is POSAT? — Context and Discussion feels like that same patient breath.